“It is impossible to think of any good meal without any good people involved.” In “A Kitchen Allegory,” a short story written by M.F.K Fisher, the main character and also the most concentrated character to the story, Mrs. Quayle, has an excessive obsession with cooking food which ultimately unintentionally creates a void in all of her relationships and separates her from the people in her life that are close to her. Fisher utilizes the communion model, different though from a ‘holy communion,’ by way of tone and imagery, to depict how from time to time, people have pure intentions but those same intentions are exactly what ends up driving others away.
A communion is often thought of as a service of Christian worship in which people eat, drink, and share bread and wine while, as a whole, experiencing their common beliefs. Another definition of communion, though, is
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Quayle is addicted to cooking food, and unfortunately her addiction to preparing meals puts a vast burden on many of her relationships. Addictions create harsh voids in relationships because the addict often puts their dependency before their family and friends. Many real addictions are far worse and treacherous than cooking food, but no matter the habit, it can easily put a strain on family life. In “A Kitchen Allegory,” Mrs. Quayle does, in fact, mean well. She believes that she can encourage people to stay around by relentlessly cooking, but she lacks in the area of communication which is what actually keeps relationships flourishing. She is so undeniably focused on cooking that she neglects the people that she is cooking for. Mrs. Quayle recognizes that she has an addiction, she just doesn’t see the problem with it or why she was losing people because of it. “[She] did not find out for several years that this was the way she had permanently alienated a close friend.” The first step to addiction recovery is identifying the problem and without that essential step, Mrs. Quayle may never